Siminoff, currently chief executive of education company Shmoop University Inc, will join a board that includes several early investors in Zynga and film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Siminoff previously helmed Efficient Frontier, an advertising technology company that was acquired by Adobe earlier this year.

"Ellen has great experience and insights operating Web businesses at scale and brings a passion for consumer Internet products," said Zynga CEO Mark Pincus.

Other Zynga directors include venture capitalists Reid Hoffman, Bing Gordon and Sunil Paul; former Silicon Valley Graphics Inc executive Stanley Meresman; former Zynga business development chief Owen Van Natta; as well as Pincus and current Chief Operating Officer John Schappert.

(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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